Scripting and non-scripting programming languages represent two completely different types of approaches to developing software. While both are capable of solving the same problems, what they do differ in is speed, development time, and what they are best suited for.

A major difference in scripting languages lies in the fact that they use an interpreter, which interprets and executes code at runtime, compared to non-scripting languages such as Java, C#, and C++, which are compiled prior to runtime from their source into machine code. In turn, this creates less overhead when a program is executed, and typically results in higher performance. Because of this, compiled languages are often preferred in performance critical environments, such as game engines, embedded systems, and large-scale infrastructure.

Modern scripting languages have worked hard to reduce this performance gap in order to increase adoption, now employing a technique known as Just-in-Time compilation (amongst many other optimizations), which aims to compile frequently executed code into native machine code during runtime. While this does improve speed significantly, compiled languages still tend to have an advantage, and also employ JIT compilation, such as in Java’s JVM. It also does not help that JavaScript runs on an asynchronous single-threaded event loop while non-scripting languages have vastly more multithreaded support and more predictable execution due to their compilers, and choice to decide to use, or not use, asynchronous code.

Where scripting languages stand out is development speed. Due to simpler syntax, less boilerplate code is required. And, some even come with a larger set of libraries and ecosystems, offering more capability with less code. Tasks that could take hundreds of lines in a verbose language such as Java, can be written in just a fraction of the code in Python. Scripting languages are ideal for web development, rapid prototyping, small budgets, machine learning, and more, where getting something done quickly is often more important than managing memory, or leading edge performance.

While scripting languages are growing in popularity due to their speed of development prioritization and ease of use, non-scripting languages still offer their own set of benefits, prioritizing performance and offering developers more control. While no approach is strictly better than the other, scripting languages are becoming increasingly more important, and might be your next best friend.